


say you love me

by hyuckithmelon



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: (it appears in one scene only), 5+1 Things, Canon Compliant, Falling In Love, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Light Angst, M/M, Nanjo Kojiro | Joe Is A Flirt, Not Actually Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:15:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29273820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyuckithmelon/pseuds/hyuckithmelon
Summary: The many times Kojiro tells Kaoru he loves him. Along with the many times Kaoru doesn’t see what it really means.(Or, the five times Kojiro says “I love you,” and the one time Kaoru finally understands.)
Relationships: Nanjo Kojiro | Joe/Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom
Comments: 8
Kudos: 335





	say you love me

“I love you.” 

The first time he heard it from Kojiro, they were just thirteen. Kaoru smiled back at Kojiro and said, “you better.” It was something as simple as that between them. Nothing too complicated, nothing too mindblowing. 

It wasn’t out of the blue, either. They’d been friends since diapers, of course, they had to enjoy each other’s presence. It just had been a really long time since they said it to each other since they were four. 

(Kaoru remembers that he’d ignored the weird feeling he felt his stomach do a weird flip. Probably was just something he ate.)

“C’mon Kaoru, say it back to me, please?” Kaoru grimaced, Kojiro was really being annoying at five P.M. He smacks Kojiro with his backpack. He mumbles a small, “I love you too, dummy.” Before running out of the classroom. Kaoru could hear Kojiro whining behind him but quickly catched up. “Hey! What was that for Kaoru?” Kojiro had pulled his face into a puppy-like pout. God, did Kaoru hate Kojiro. He really does.

“Stop being so annoying right now! You’re being all weird, it’s making me embarrassed.” 

Kojiro grins. “What do you mean? You’re just shy to show that you love me too, aren’t you?” Kaoru smacks him again, this time with his arm. “Shut up, Kojiro.” But Kojiro only smiles and continues on with which girl confessed to him today or something along those lines.

  
  
  
  


The next time Kaoru hears Kojiro tell him, “I love you,” he’s fifteen. Unsurprisingly, it’s right after he figured out he had feelings for Kojiro. 

“Y-you what? I’m sorry, what?” Kojiro burst out into laughter. He’d gained muscle after joining both the basketball and volleyball clubs. “I said, ‘I love you,’ am I not allowed to say that to my best friend?”  _ Oh.  _

Kaoru takes a breath, yeah, he really thought Kojiro meant that romantically for a second. “Yeah, whatever, Kojiro. Just shut up I’m trying to do our homework.” Kojiro leans in closer, “Do you need any help with it? I already finished mine earlier.” Kaoru stares at him. Kojiro’s growing his hair out, and God, he’s getting toned up everyday. Kaoru looks down at the sheet of homework. “I’m good, I’d have finished this paper by now, but someone’s being annoying.”

“Oi Kaoru—“

“Kojiro! We need you to fill in for us!” Kaoru watches as Kojiro gets up and jogs over to the basketball team. Kojiro turns and flashes Kaoru a smile. “I’ll see you later, Kaoru!”

Kaoru flashes a small smile back and waves. Kojiro’s getting more and more popular everyday.

  
  
  
  


By the time, Kaoru hears another “I love you,” they’d moved in together for college. 

It was as Kojiro baked a cake for Kaoru’s nineteenth birthday, along with a way to celebrate the start of the new school year. “God, you really have to stop saying that—one day someone’s gonna get the wrong idea.” Kojiro laughs. “I’m your best friend turned roommate, I’m allowed to say I love you because I mean it.” Kaoru rolls his eyes and holds his plate out for a slice. Kojiro places a piece on his plate. He takes a bite. 

“Chocolate and cherries?”

“Yeah, I wanted to try this layering technique—do you like it?”

“Mhm, I really do. Thank you.” Kojiro’s beaming at those words, Kaoru doesn’t want him to stop looking like that. “Oooh, by the way, what are you wishing for your birthday?” Kaoru raises a brow, “I’m nineteen, why would I still be wishing for something.”

“Kaoru, c’mon! If you didn’t wish yet, what are you gonna wish for?”

_ I wish that I could get over you.  _

“Just to not die underneath the stress of college.” 

“Boo, what a mundane wish. Not anything regarding your lovelife or anything??? I haven’t seen you date anyone like, ever.”

“Well, I’m sorry I’m not a womanizer like someone over here.” Kojiro gives him that same beautiful smile that he has. 

“Haha, you’re right about that. Happy birthday, Kaoru.”

When Kaoru returns to his own room, he flops onto his own bed and wraps himself in a blanket. A stupid crush that grew bigger than it should have over the span of five years, along with the feeling of falling over and over again. He needs to get over Kojiro soon, after all, he knows Kojiro. He’ll end up with some girl within a week’s time anyways. 

Kaoru thinks bitterly to himself, falling in love with your best friend is the absolute worst. 

  
  
  
  


“I love you, Kaoru, okay? I’m here for you, and I’m never going anywhere else.” 

It was unexpected really. Kaoru never really gave himself a label, but when his parents found out he liked men—the outcome wasn’t exactly the best. To put it simply, Kaoru went back to his shared apartment with a few bruises and the memory of being disowned still fresh in his mind. “Hey Kaoru—Holy shit. What the hell happened to you?! Hold on, I’m getting the first aid kit, Kaoru, sit down, holy fuck.” 

Kaoru silently makes his way to the kitchen, setting down his bag along with a broken Carla. He doesn’t want to look at Kojiro of all people. Hell, he doesn’t want anyone to see him like this really. Kaoru couldn’t feel the pain from the bruises whatsoever. 

Kojiro came back from the pantry, first aid kit in hand. He sets it down on the table. Kaoru could feel Kojiro’s eyes on him. “Kaoru… You said you were going to your parents’ place, what happened?” He shook his head, it hurt everywhere yet it didn’t. “I’m gonna clean up some of these bruises, Kaoru. It’ll hurt for a bit.” 

Kaoru winces at the feeling of it. He does appreciate what Kojiro’s doing for him though. Kaoru looks over to Carla, his father had broken it in half the moment he heard Kaoru say he liked boys. It was fucked over, that’s all. “Kaoru, you don’t have to answer but… Who did this?” With a shaky breath, he tries to steady himself. “My parents.” He feels Kojiro tense up, with hesitation he asks, “Why though?” Kaoru looks down at his lap.

“I came out.” 

He notices Kojiro nearly dropping the cotton balls in his hand. “Huh?”

“I came out to them.” 

“You like guys?” Kaoru nods. Kojiro places a bandaid over one of the small cuts on his arm, “Well, they had no right to do that. I mean, you’re still Kaoru, I don’t see what a difference this makes.” Kaoru looks up at Kojiro for the first time since he stepped into their apartment that day. And it felt like he was stepping into somewhere safe.

He didn’t notice the tears as they made their way down his face. Kojiro sets down the supplies and ointments and pulls Kaoru into a hug. (A delicate hug, Kojiro must’ve not wanted to cause more pain to the bruises.) Kojiro felt warm.

“You didn’t deserve that, Kaoru. I mean, you’re this really, really amazing person, you know? Like your handwriting looks like a work of art, the way you tinker and play around while creating technology is the coolest thing ever, and while your sometimes this evil bastard—you make up the most intelligent strategies. You could decode some federal secret code if you put your mind to it. You’re a wonderful person, Kaoru.” He felt like he was going to cry even harder now. “You really mean that?” Kojiro lets out a long hum of approval. “And much, much more but we’d be here for years, if I said every single thing that makes you the best person ever.”

They stay like that for a minute, the pain was still there, but for now it was placed in a box to be not visited in for a long time. 

“Thank you, Kojiro. For… For staying with me this long.”

“I am not going anywhere, I’m here for you whenever you need me.”

“Thank you.” 

And for Kaoru, hearing those small words of encouragement were all he really needed. 

  
  
  
  


“Kaoru, I love you.”

When Kojiro said those words, he had this serious yet warm look on his face. They’re both twenty-eight now, still best friends. Or at least that’s what Kaoru thought. It was just them alone; they’d moved to their own respective places after college.

But this was weird. Kaoru dropped by to visit Kojiro’s restaurant, wrapped up in a jacket or two due to the February cold. Kaoru rolls his eyes. “Why do you have this serious look on your face, Kojiro? You actually look like you mean it romantically—“

“Because I do.” 

Kaoru nearly drops his fork. For Kaoru, he’d kept his feelings for Kojiro tightly hidden away in the deepest crevices of his mind. He didn’t feel that highschool crush feeling, his heart beating fast, his face turning red, or that feeling of “like.” It’s been far too many years, far too many times clamping down on his feelings, that he doesn’t know what to say.

“Look, Kaoru. I know that we’ve been friends for almost twenty years, but I think I should say it. Everytime you give me this strained look of ‘yeah, yeah whatever,’ when I tell you I love you, and it—it hurts okay? I can’t tell if you hate the phrase or you hate me. That’s why I don’t say it that often, but I need to let you know, okay? It was getting too hard to keep it to myself. I really do love you, Kaoru.”

A silence falls, if Kaoru tried to move his chair everyone would hear it. Kojiro grabs a towel and disinfectant, probably heading off to clean tables. “Kaoru, you don’t have to say anything—I really shouldn’t have dumped that all on you—“

“I love you too.” Kojiro stops. “Have been in love with you for a while now, actually.” Kojiro’s face bursts in a smile. “I’ve been worrying for years on end for nothing then, huh?” 

“What? I’ve probably known this feeling longer than you, dumbass.” 

“Really? Have you been in love with the same person since the age of thirteen?”

Kaoru’s eyes widened. “Thirteen? You liked that Kaoru?” 

“Yup and it stayed that way.”

“But you literally had fifty different girlfriends during that time—“

“Coping mechanisms. It was a mix of internalized biphobia and the fact I liked my best friend, who was by far prettier than all of the girlfriends I had.”

Kaoru takes a moment to wrap his mind around that fact. “I’ve liked you since I was fifteen. I can’t believe you liked me longer.” Kojiro grins, “So does this make us boyfriend and boyfriend?” Kaoru lets out a small laugh, and looks up to Kojiro.

“Yeah, I guess it does.”

“You’ll be mine on Valentines’ Day right?”

“Yes I will, you sap.” 

  
  
  
  


Waking up with Kojiro beside him was something Kaoru never really imagined. The light hit Kojiro’s face perfectly, hair still messy from the night before. He presses a kiss to Kojiro’s forehead. Kojiro was really here with him now. “You’re really something, Kojiro.” 

Kojiro’s eyes flutter open, “And you’re absolutely beautiful.” Kaoru looks away, embarrassed. “Were you really awake that whole time?” Kojiro pulls him closer. “Yeah, I’d like my morning kiss now, though.”

“You are a clingy little shit aren’t you?”

“Yep! But I am the same clingy little shit that made you climax—“

“Shut it, we aren’t going to talk about last night right now. I don’t even think I can walk, Kojiro.” Kaoru’s devil of a boyfriend only smiles in response. “Yeah, yeah, but you love me for it.” 

“But sadly, I do.” 

Kojiro kisses Kaoru quickly, “You know I love you right?” Kaoru can’t help but grin. 

“I really do.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! i have been going insane with joerry (yes, i'm calling them that it's too hard to scream matcha blossom at the top of my lungs) that i realized. i'm gonna eventually have to end up feeding myself. anyways! hope you enjoyed this cute little one shot.
> 
> come yell with me on twitter: koutaroism (i said i'd learn how to link it but i rlly didn't)


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